All You Need To Know About Wheelchair Basketball At Paralympics 2024

Wheelchair basketball is one of the most followed sports in Paralympics.

Wheelchair basketball match between Germany and Great Britain

Basketball remains one of the most followed sports in the world, but not many are aware that the sport is also played by physically challenged athletes. In fact, more than more than 100 countries play wheelchair basketball at the moment, with teams like France, the USA, Great Britain, etc. participating in the sport at the Paris Paralympic Games 2024. The wheelchair basketball was designed at first to help rehabilitate wounded soldiers and help them release stress. Since the physically challenged athletes had to use wheelchairs to travel across the court, the sport started to be called wheelchair basketball.

There also exists an International Wheelchair Basketball Federation, according to which the sport was first played 1945 between two hospitals in the United States.

The International Paralympic Committee states: "Wheelchair basketball first emerged around 1946 in the USA, developed by injured servicemen from World War II. Most were former able-bodied players who wanted to continue playing the game. The simple adaptations and slight rule variations for people in wheelchairs allowed the sport to spread across the US, and eventually worldwide."

Wheelchair basketball was introduced to the Paralympic Games 1960 in Rome. The Rome Paralympics had a total of eight sports, one of which was wheelchair basketball. In the inaugural campaign, it was the United States of America that won two gold medals in wheelchair basketball.

Source: NDTV